Banker bashing, Syrian diplomacy and pilots v sailors

Letters from the Telegraph Weekly World Edition, Issue 1,073

SIR – Stripping Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland,of his knighthoodis a nasty and vindictive political gesture (report, Issue 1,072). He has committed no crime. He has not even been individually censured by the Financial Services Authority. He made bad business decisions which lost RBS billions of pounds and, because it was a major British bank, it needed to be rescued using taxpayers’ money. In any other case, the company would have been allowed to go to the wall.

On the other hand, still sitting comfortably in the House of Lords are peers who have committed criminal offences and served prison sentences. Perjury, in the case of Lord Archer; fraud, in the case of Lord Taylor. I hear no cries for them to be stripped of their peerages.

The whiff of hypocrisy hangs heavy, and it is clear that Fred Goodwin is being made the scapegoat for the failings of many.

SIR – The current fashion of banker bashing by politicians is not helping our reputation as a business-friendly country.

Our encouragement of new business and risk-taking has further deteriorated with the news being broadcast around the world that Fred Goodwin has lost his knighthood.

Phil Williams, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire

SIR – The stripping of Fred Goodwin’s knighthood is not a punishment but the correction of a previous error. The knighthood was awarded specifically for “services to banking”. It is only right and proper, therefore, that when it became apparent that he had actually done nothing for banking – quite the opposite, in fact – his award was withdrawn.

To call for the withdrawal of his pension, however, is vindictive and should be considered only when such actions are commonplace in other walks of life.

Terry Lloyd, Derby

SIR – It is high time that Sir Lancelot was stripped of his knighthood, following his disgraceful affair with Queen Guinevere.

Nicholas Debenham, Twickenham, Middlesex

Animal magic

SIR – I refer to your article “Harnessing an instinctive healing bond”(Features, Issue 1,070). It has long been my view that many (perhaps all) animals utilise some form of telepathy to communicate with other animals. I have seen several examples of this with dogs I have owned and have observed this ability being used apparently to communicate with other species.

When I was a child, we owned two dogs. They would often race each other to see who could reach a given point first. It was not a case of one dog following the other. They started simultaneously from a standing start and both dogs knew exactly which point was the “finish line” (it was different every time). It was as though somebody had shouted “ready, steady – go!” but no sound passed between them.

Many years later, I owned a golden retriever and a friend came to stay for a few weeks, bringing her pet cat with her. A couple of days after they had arrived, I peered into the living room and saw the dog and cat standing stock still, staring eyeball to eyeball. They remained motionless for almost a minute and then turned away. The body language of both animals suggested that an agreement had been reached and that both animals were satisfied with it.

It seems to me that the horses referred to in the article are using this ability to divine what the children need and their own temperament motivates them to provide it.

Brian Butler, Penticton, BC, Canada

Close the embassy

SIR – Why hasn’t the Syrian embassy in the UK been closed and the diplomats expelled? This should have happened months ago.

Diplomatic channels between the UK and Syria are blocked and the Syrian regime is ignoring all attempts to prevent the mayhem in the country, which is already worse than was the case in Libya last year when that embassy was closed.

By allowing the Syrian embassy to continue functioning, the British Government is lending tacit support to the thoroughly discredited and murderous Bashar al-Assad.

Is Mr Newton just a very ignorant sailor or does he simply hate pilots?

To gain command of a large transport jet like the B747-400 or the Airbus A380 will take at least 18 – and more likely several more than 20 – years. (Yes, a command on a smaller aircraft in less time is possible, just as sailors will gain command of smaller ships within 10 years).

Over a period of a year an airline captain may be responsible for the lives of anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 passengers into a wide variety of different airports in all weathers, unlike the ship’s captain, who sails into relatively few ports, often with the assistance of a harbour pilot.

In the space of a year as a B747 captain, I would be away from home approximately 156 days and nights, but not on a luxurious ship with my own cabin and the possibility of taking my wife with me. Extended night flying and rapid transition of time zones does not happen at sea.

I have no idea what a cruise ship captain earns per annum but most of it will be free of tax and the mariner will receive five-star accommodation, meals, laundry etc, and the whole will most certainly add up to very much more than one third of an airline captain’s salary.

Should an airline captain crash his aircraft and survive and be found to have been negligent he will be prosecuted.

There are plenty of people willing to help Scout groups and similar but are deterred by all the rules, regulations and potential legal action from doing so. Proving that one is not a paedophile is one that immediately springs to mind. This applies to all sorts of help groups such as governorships, etc.

Similarly there are plenty of people willing to start businesses, but are deterred by an inability to extract money from the banks and by the legislation (which includes employment law) set against them.

Bernard Juby, Armaille, France

Badgers v hedgehogs

SIR – Terry Pratchett is right to be concerned about the declining hedgehog population (News digest, Issue 1,072), but he fails to mention the threat posed by their main natural predator, the badger. As badger numbers have risen, hedgehog numbers have dwindled.

When we moved to a rural area with a thriving badger population, we noticed the total absence of hedgehogs, having seen many in our old village a few miles away, where there were no badgers.

This seems a good reason to cull badgers, which have no natural predators and are not endangered. It will be interesting to see if proposed culls to prevent the spread of bovine TB to cattle have any effect on hedgehog numbers.

Karin Proudfoot, Fawkham, Kent

Preferred pints

SIR – The Strangers’ Bar in the House of Commons has banned Top Totty draught(report, Issue 1,072). My local sells a brew called My Wife’s Bitter.

Richard Bonham Christie, Blandford Forum, Dorset

SIR – The bar at The House of Parliament should stock that delicious brew Theakston Old Peculier.